Device for controlling a vehicle

ABSTRACT

A device for controlling a vehicle  8  has a housing, a rectangular printed circuit board inside of the housing and a control circuit thereon. Plugs are provided along one side of the rectangular printed circuit board to transfer signals between the inside and the outside of the housing. The plugs have plug pins that are electrically connected to the printed circuit board within the housing.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a device for controlling a vehicle,particularly to a disposition of parts constituting the device forcontrolling a vehicle and configuration of the parts respectively.

A device for controlling a vehicle accommodates a required electroniccircuit and others in a metallic housing equipped with plugs to transfersignals to and from the outside. The plugs are provided in the center ofthe housing, for example, as disclosed in Japanese laid-open PatentPublication of International application No. Hei 11-505074, namely in aplace where a printed circuit board exists or provided on both sides ofa printed circuit board as disclosed in Japanese laid-open PatentPublication of International application No. 2001-507522.

Further, a control circuit is made by directly forming necessarycircuits on a printed circuit board.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Usually plugs are connected to the printed circuit board with bondingwires. If the plugs are provided in a place where a printed circuitboard exists as in a conventional configuration, the pin arrangement ofthe plugs becomes complicated. Further when the plugs are provided onboth sides of the printed circuit board, the printed circuit board has atendency to become greater as the printed circuit board requires abonding space.

Further, if circuits are directly formed on printed circuit boards, theboards must be manufactured separately for models of vehicles when themodels have different functions. Further, the boards must be madegreater as the number of parts to be mounted increases.

Furthermore, as circuits on printed circuits generate heat, coolingplates are required to cool the circuits. It sometimes happened thatsome parts could not be cooled by cooling plates effectively and wereforced to be abandoned.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a devicefor controlling a vehicle which facilitates connections between plugsand the printed circuit board.

It is another object of the present invention to make it easy to addfunctions to printed circuit boards and to change the functions thereof.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to cool moduleseffectively on the printed circuit board.

A device for controlling a vehicle which is an embodiment of the presentinvention comprises a housing, a rectangular printed circuit board whichis fixed to the inside of said housing and has a control circuit on it,and plugs provided along one side of said rectangular printed circuitboard to transfer signals between the inside and the outside of saidhousing; wherein said plugs respectively contain plug pins and the plugpins are electrically connected to said printed circuit board viabonding wires inside said housing.

In the preferred embodiment, the printed circuit board is rectangularand the plugs are arranged on the printed circuit board along thelongitudinal side thereof.

In the preferred embodiment, the bonding wires are members of a flexiblecable.

In the preferred embodiment, the plugs comprise a first plug whichtransfers signals related to engine controlling and a second plug whichtransfers signals related to vehicle controlling.

In the preferred embodiment, a grounding pin is provided on the innerwall of the housing between the plugs to ground the printed circuitboard and the grounding pin is connected to the printed circuit boardvia a bonding wire.

In the preferred embodiment, the printed circuit board has a controlcircuit made up with modules which perform preset functions.

In the preferred embodiment, the printed circuit board is rectangular.

The plugs comprise a first plug which transfers signals related toengine controlling and a second plug which transfers signals related tovehicle controlling. The first and second plugs are arranged along thelongitudinal side of the rectangle and respectively close to eachshorter side thereof. A first module containing a CPU to control theother modules is provided about in the longitudinal center of theprinted circuit board. A second module to perform a processing relatedto engine controlling is provided closer to the first plug than thefirst module. A third module to perform a processing related to vehiclecontrolling is provided closer to the second plug than the first module.

A device for controlling a vehicle which is an embodiment of the presentinvention comprises a housing, a printed circuit board which is fixed tothe inside of the housing and has a control circuit made up with moduleswhich perform preset functions, plugs for transferring signals betweenthe inside and the outside of the housing, and plug pins in each plugwhich are electrically connected to the printed circuit board viabonding wires inside the housing.

In the preferred embodiment, the printed circuit board is rectangular, afirst module containing a CPU to control the other modules is providedabout in the longitudinal center of the printed circuit board, and asecond module to perform a processing related to engine or vehiclecontrolling is provided longitudinally next to the first module.

In the preferred embodiment, the printed circuit board has a multi-layercircuit structure comprising a first ceramic layer, a second layer whichis provided on the first layer and has a power supply pattern and aground pattern thereon, a third layer which is provided on the secondlayer and has a resistive element thereon, and a fourth layer havingwiring patterns of the modules.

In the preferred embodiment, at least one of the modules has amulti-layer supporting board whose layers are separated from each otherby an insulating ceramic layer and electrically interconnected viathrough-holes.

In the preferred embodiment, any of the layers contains resistor andcapacitive elements.

In the preferred embodiment, at least one of the modules has asilicone-made supporting board.

In the preferred embodiment, at least one of the modules has aresin-made supporting board.

In the preferred embodiment, at least one of the modules has amulti-layer supporting board which is separated into layers by ametallic core layer and an insulating resin layer and the layers areelectrically interconnected via through-holes or inner via-holes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a front view of a device for controlling a vehicle inaccordance with this embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a rear view of a device for controlling a vehicle inaccordance with this embodiment;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of a device for controlling a vehicle inaccordance with this embodiment;

FIG. 4 shows circuit patterns of layers in a 4-layer board;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a multi-chip module made of a ceramicmulti-layer board; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view of a multi-chip module made of a resinmulti-layer board.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

A device for controlling a vehicle which is a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention is described below with reference to theaccompanying drawings.

FIG. 1, FIG. 2, and FIG. 3 respectively show front, rear, and sectionalviews (in that order) of a device for controlling a vehicle inaccordance with this embodiment.

The control device 8 comprises a box-shaped metallic housing 3 which ismade up with a recessed bottom 31 and sides 32, and contains on therecessed bottom 31 a printed circuit board 4 having an electroniccircuit on it. The bottom 31 of the housing 3 has a plurality of coolingfins 33 on its outer surface. As shown in FIG. 1, plugs 1 (1 a and 1 b)are provided on the side of the recessed surface of the housing 3 totransfer signals between the inside and the outside of the housing. Eachplug comprises a plug housing 11 11 a and 11 b) and plug pins 2.

The plug 1 a is for engine input/output to be connected to the engineand the plug 1 b is for vehicle input/output to be connected to vehicleparts to be controlled.

The engine input/output plug 1 a inputs signals from engine statussensors such as O₂ sensors and crank angle sensors and outputs signalsto control concentration of gasoline in each cylinder and ignitiontiming to engine parts such as injectors and ignition plugs.

The vehicle input/output plug 1 b transfers signals to control partsother than the engine. For example, the plug 1 b inputs signalsindicating revolution speeds of a fuel pump, a radiator fan, and crankshafts and outputs signals to control an in-car panel.

When the inside of the housing 3 is viewed from the rear, a printedcircuit board 4 and plugs 1 a and 1 b (rear views) are provided in aline as shown in FIG. 2. Here, the printed circuit board 4 isrectangular. The plugs 1 a and 1 b are provided along one side of theprinted circuit board 4. Plug pins 2 on the rear of the plug 1 areconnected to the printed circuit board 4 with bonding wires 5.

Placing plugs 1 along one side of the printed circuit board 4facilitates connection of plug pins 2 to the printed circuit board 4with bonding wires. This reduces the production man-hour. The bondingwires 5 should preferably be aluminum wires and flexible cables.

In this embodiment, the printed circuit board 4 is rectangular and plugs1 a and 1 b are arranged along the longitudinal side of the printedcircuit board 4 and respectively close to each shorter side thereof.

The printed circuit board 4 also has some multi-chip modules 7 (7 a to 7d) thereon. Each multi-chip module 7 is provided for preset functionsand contains circuits required to accomplish the functions. For example,the multi-chip module 7 c in the center of the printed circuit board 4contains a CPU 9 which collectively controls the control device. Thismodule 7 c is a main module to control the other multi-chip modules 7 a,7 b, and 7 d. The multi-chip modules 7 a, 7 b, and 7 d contain circuitsfor accomplishing preset functions to perform engine control or in-carcontrol. Each of these multi-chip modules need not be mounted on ahigh-density printed circuit board. The boards can be cheap printedcircuit boards.

It is easy to form a control circuit on a printed circuit board having arequired wiring pattern by combining multi-chip modules each of whichcontains a preset function as a block. Further, the printed circuitboard can be made smaller by mounting multi-chip modules on a singleprinted circuit board without directly mounting circuits on the board.

In this embodiment, it is preferable that the multi-chip modules 7 a and7 b near the engine input/output plug 1 a contain functions related toengine controlling and the multi-chip module 7 d near the vehicleinput/output plug 1 b contains functions related to in-car controlling.This can make pattern designing easier and board dimensions smaller.Further, this facilitates designing of harnesses for external signalsfed to the plugs.

Further, a grounding terminal (GND) 50 is provided between plugs 1 a and1 b. The printed circuit board 4 is connected to this grounding terminal(GND) 50 with a bonding wire 5 a to ground the board 4. This can omit agrounding wire from the plug pin 2 and consequently reduces the numberof plug pins.

FIG. 3 shows a sectional view taken along the A-A line of the controldevice 8. The printed circuit board 4 having multi-chip modules 7thereon is fixed to the bottom 31 of the housing with the whole printedcircuit board 4 accommodated in the metallic housing 3.

FIG. 4 shows an example of configuration of the printed circuit board 4.The board 4 is a multi-layer board and has four layers in thisembodiment. The first layer (bottom) is a ceramic board 4 a. The secondlayer is a VCC/GND pattern layer 4 b having a power supply pattern and agrounding pattern printed as a thin film and a thick film on the ceramicboard 4 a. The third layer is a resistor layer 4 d having a wiringpattern of resistor element 10 a. The fourth layer (top) is a wiringpattern layer 4 c. By placing the resistor layer 4 d between the VCC/GNDpattern layer 4 b and the wiring pattern layer 4 c, it is possible toeliminate resistor chips to be mounted on the wiring pattern layer 4 c(top layer). This can make the board 4 smaller. Further, the resistorelement 10 a can be placed on the wiring pattern layer 4 c.

FIG. 5 shows an example of configuration of a multi-chip module 7. Thisexample uses a ceramic multi-layer board as the supporting board 6 ofthe module 7. The ceramic multi-layer board comprises semiconductorlayers 6 c whose conductors and electronic parts are separated from eachother by insulation ceramic layers 60. The electronic parts 10 on thelayers are electrically interconnected by means of through-holes (Via) 6d made on the insulation ceramic layers 60. It is possible to increasethe packaging density by hierarchically building up the supportingboards 6. This can also make the multi-chip module smaller in size.

For example, in FIG. 8, the surface 6 a and the inner semiconductorlayer 6 c of the supporting board 6 have electronic parts 10 such as ICchip 10 a, resistor element (chip resistor 10 b), and capacitive element(chip capacitor 10 c). The electronic parts 10 on the surface 6 a of thesupporting board 6 are connected to the supporting board 6 with bondingwires 5 b. The electronic parts 10 on the surface 6 a of the supportingboard 6 are interconnected with each other by means of the conductor 11and interconnected with electronic parts on the inner conductor layers 6c by means of the conductor 11 and through-holes (Via) 6 d.

It is possible to increase the packing density of the multi-chip moduleby placing chip resistors 10 b and chip capacitors on the surface 6 aand inner semiconductor layers 6 c of the supporting board 6.

The conductors 11 of the multi-chip module are introduced to the rearside 6 b of the supporting board 6 through inner conductor layers bymeans of through-holes (Via) 6 d and connected to solder balls 12 there.The multi-chip modules 7 are placed on the printed circuit board 4 withthe solder balls on the printed circuit board 4 and soldered to theprinted circuit board 4 by reflow-soldering.

If electronic parts 10 on the surface 6 a are solder-connected, thesolder may be molten when the multi-chip modules 7 are soldered to theprinted circuit board 4. This reduces the reliability of the multi-chipmodules 7 remarkably.

To prevent this, an adhesive material 13 containing silver (Ag) as themain ingredient is used to connect electronic parts 10 such as IC chipson the surface 6 a to the supporting board 6. This adhesive material 13will not be molten by reflow-soldering when solder balls 12 on thesupporting board 6 are molten for soldering.

It is also possible to use non-ceramic materials for the supportingboard 6 of the multi-chip modules 7. For example, the ceramic materialof the supporting board 6 can be substituted with silicone or resinmaterial.

A silicone board can make pattern lines thinner. Further the siliconeboard can have power-related electronic parts thereon as silicone ishigh exoergic.

Resin boards can comparatively reduce the manufacturing cost ofmulti-chip modules.

Further, the supporting board 6 of the multi-chip modules 7 can besubstituted with a high exoergic resin multi-layer metal-core board.FIG. 6 shows an example of using a resin multi-layer metal-core board 6e as the supporting base 6.

As well as the ceramic multi-layer boards, silicone boards, and resinboards, the resin multi-layer metal-core board 6 e has variouselectronic parts on its surface 6 a. The IC chip 10 c is connected tothe supporting board 6 with bonding wires 5 b.

The electronic parts 10 on the surface 6 a of the supporting board 6 areinterconnected with each other by means of the conductor 11 andinterconnected with electronic parts on the inner conductor layers 6 cby means of the conductor 11, through-holes (Via) 6 d, and innervia-holes (IVH) 6 f.

The conductors 11 of the multi-chip module are introduced to the rearside 6 b of the supporting board 6 through inner conductor layers 6 c bymeans of through-holes (Via) 6 d and inner via-holes (IVH) 6 f andconnected to solder balls 12 there. The multi-chip modules 7 are placedon the printed circuit board 4 with the solder balls on the printedcircuit board 4 and soldered to the printed circuit board 4 byreflow-soldering.

The board area 6 g where the IC chip 10 c is mounted is pitted until themetal core layer 6 h is exposed. The IC chip 10 c is put into this pitto be in direct contact with the surface of the metal core layer 6 h.This enables the IC chip 10 c to be cooled effectively.

Also in this case as indicated by an example of FIG. 5, an adhesivematerial 13 containing silver (Ag) as the main ingredient is used toconnect electronic parts 10 such as IC chips on the surface 6 a to thesupporting board 6.

This enables high density mounting of components on the resinmulti-layer board and can downsize multi-chip modules and their mountingboards. Further, a metallic multi-layer core material enables mountingand high effective cooling of power-related electronic parts.

Reference signs show the following parts:

1 . . . Plug, 2 . . . Plug pin, 3 . . . Metallic housing, 4 . . . Board,4 a . . . Ceramic layer, 4 b . . . VCC/GND pattern layer, 4 c . . .Wiring pattern layer, 4 d . . . Resistor element layer having wiringpatterns, 4 e . . . Front layer, 5 . . . Bonding wire, 6 . . .Supporting board, 6 a . . . Front surface of the supporting board, 6 b .. . Rear surface of the supporting board, 6 c . . . Inner conductorlayer, 6 d . . . Through-hole (Via), 6 e . . . Resin multi-layer metalcore board, 6 f . . . Inner via-hole, 6 g . . . IC mounting area, 6 h .. . Metal core layer, 7 . . . Multi-chip module, 8 . . . Control device,9 . . . CPU, 10 . . . Electronic device, 11 . . . Conductor, 12 . . .Solder ball, 13 . . . Adhesive material.

The above embodiments of the present invention are intended toillustrate the invention and are not to be construed to limit the scopeof the invention. Those skilled in the art can apply this invention tovarious embodiments without departing from the spirit of this invention.

1. A device for controlling a vehicle, comprising a housing; a printedcircuit board fixed to the inside of said housing and having a controlcircuit thereon; and plugs provided along one side of a rectangularprinted circuit board to transfer signals between an inside and anoutside of said housing; wherein said plugs respectively contain plugpins and the plug pins are electrically connected to said printedcircuit board inside said housing, and wherein a grounding pin isprovided on the inner wall of said housing between said plugs to groundsaid printed circuit board and said grounding pin is connected to saidprinted circuit board via a bonding wire.
 2. A device for controlling avehicle comprising: a housing; a printed circuit board fixed to theinside of said housing and having a control circuit thereon; and plugsprovided along one side of the rectangular printed circuit board totransfer signals between an inside and an outside of said housing;wherein said plugs respectively contain plug pins and the plug pins areelectrically connected to said printed circuit board inside saidhousing, and said plugs are provided in a side area at a recessed bottomof the housing, wherein said printed circuit board is rectangular andhas a control circuit made up with modules which perform presentfunctions, said plugs comprise a first plug which transfers signalsrelated to engine controlling, and a second plug which transfers signalsrelated to vehicle controlling, said first and second plugs are arrangedalong the longitudinal side of said rectangle and respectively close toeach shorter side thereof, a first module containing a CPU to controlthe other modules is provided about in the longitudinal center of saidprinted circuit board, a second module to perform a processing relatedto engine controlling is provided closer to said first plug than saidfirst module; and a third module to perform a processing related tovehicle controlling is provided closer to said second plug than saidfirst module.
 3. A device for controlling a vehicle comprising: ahousing; a printed circuit board fixed to the inside of said housing andhaving a control circuit thereon; and plugs provided alone one side ofthe rectangular printed circuit board to transfer signals between aninside and an outside of said housing; wherein said plugs respectivelycontain plug pins and the plug pins are electrically connected to saidprinted circuit board inside said housing, and said plugs are providedin a side area at a recessed bottom of the housing, wherein said printedcircuit board is rectangular and has a control circuit made up withmodules which perform present functions, wherein said printed circuitboard is rectangular, the control circuit comprises modules to performpreset functions, a first of the modules containing a CPU to controlother modules is provided about in the longitudinal center of saidprinted circuit board, and a second of the modules to perform aprocessing related to engine or vehicle controlling is providedlongitudinally next to said first module.
 4. The device for controllinga vehicle in accordance with claim 3, wherein at least one of saidmodules has a silicone-made supporting board.
 5. The device forcontrolling a vehicle in accordance with claim 3, wherein at least oneof said modules has a resin-made supporting board.
 6. A device forcontrolling a vehicle comprising: a housing; a printed circuit boardfixed to the inside of said housing and has a control circuit made upwith modules which perform preset functions; plugs for transferringsignals between the inside and the outside of said housing; and plugpins in each plug electrically connected to said printed circuit boardvia bonding wires inside said housing, wherein said printed circuitboard has a multi-layer circuit structure comprising a first ceramiclayer, a second layer which is provided on said first layer and has apower supply pattern and a ground pattern thereon, a third layer whichis provided on said second layer and has a resistive element thereon,and a fourth layer having wiring patterns of said modules.
 7. A devicefor controlling a vehicle, comprising: a housing; a printed circuitboard fixed to the inside of said housing and has a control circuit madeup with modules which perform preset functions; plugs for transferringsignals between the inside and the outside of said housing; and plugpins in each plug electrically connected to said printed circuit boardvia bonding wires inside said housing, wherein at least one of saidmodules has a multi-layer supporting board whose layers are separatedfrom each other by an insulating ceramic layer and electricallyinterconnected via through-holes.
 8. The device for controlling avehicle in accordance with claim 7, wherein any of said layers containsresistor and capacitive elements.
 9. A device for controlling a vehiclecomprising: a housing; a printed circuit board fixed to the inside ofsaid housing and has a control circuit made up with modules whichperform preset functions; plugs for transferring signals between theinside and the outside of said housing; plug pins in each plugelectrically connected to said printed circuit board via bonding wiresinside said housing; wherein at least one of said modules has amulti-layer supporting board which is separated into layers by ametallic core layer and an insulating resin layer and said layers areelectrically interconnected via through-holes or inner via-holes.